Selfridges Enchanted Spells advent calendar - December 16,17,18,19,20

Happy New Years' Eve everyone!

Where has this month gone, or to be more accurate, where has this year gone? I am still behind with posts revealing what was behind the doors of my Selfridges Enchanted spells advent calendar.

Here was what was behind the doors for December 16, 17, 18, 19 and 20. 

For December 16 I got this eye serum which is the Lancome Genifique Yeux Light Pearl.

 Behind December 17 was a sample of the Urban Decay Anti-Aging Primer Potion. I am a huge fan of Urban Decay products, I never come across a product from this brand which I didn't like. I have used their primer potion before so I was pleased this product was included in the calendar. 

A small amount goes a long way and helps keep eye shadows from creasing. Brilliant stuff. 

Next up we have some more Lancome goodies, this time it was the Visionnaire LR skin corrector which claims to help decrease the appearance of wrinkles, fine lines and pores. It also aims to smooth out the skin's texture for a more even base. Sounds good to me.

Behind the door for December 19 was this 7ml sample bottle of Viktor and Rolf Flowerbomb Eau de Parfum. I have a dreadful cold at the moment so cannot smell it to get  feel of scent but I have heard some great things about the brand in general. 

Behind December 20 was another Lancome product, this was the Bi-Facial, non oily cleanser for sensitive eyes. Is it just me, or were there a lot of Lancome products in this calendar? Anyways, this cleanser is great for dissolving stubborn makeup including waterproof mascara.

Pregnancy update: 20 week scan - blue or pink?

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! 

I am a bit behind with this post, I am now 23 weeks into my first pregnancy but have only just got round to posting this update which is my 20 week scan.

I don't know why, but I was really nervous ahead of this scan, I was worried something would be wrong.

However the sonographer found the heartbeat right away, phewww! 

After doing all the usual checks the sonographer said she could tell us the gender of baby if we wanted to know. 

Right from the get go I knew baby was a boy, my husband had thought baby would be a girl. We even had a £10 bet on. The sonographer said my husband needed to get his wallet out because I was right!

We are having a baby boy!

Can't believe I am more than half way through the pregnancy, that has gone by so fast. At the moment I have a horrific cold and you can't take Lemsip or any other cold and flu medicines when you are pregnant.

Selfridges Enchanted Spells - December 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14

Happy Christmas everyone! Hope you are all having a great day!

For the last couple of months I have got back into a routine with blogging by posting every three days. 

I am a bit behind with writing about my Selfridges Enchanted Spells beauty advent calendar so I thought I would schedule a post for today for anyone who needs a chill out after eating too much.

This was what was behind the doors on the calendar for December 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14.

We have Lancome Rose Nu lipstick, Lancome Hypnose Drama mascara, YSL eyeliner, Emporio Armani Diamonds, and Midnight Recovery Concentrate from Kiehl's.

Behind the door for December 10 was the mini lipstick.

I haven't tried this lipstick for colour or application but I do like the handy handbag size! A lot of other people have said great things about Lancome lipsticks, so I have high hopes for this. 

December 11 there was a mini Lancome Hypnose Drama mascara which is lovely product. The wand is curvy which really helps to hug the lashes. The mascara itself is a wet formula - I know that sounds odd - but some high end mascaras are quite dry in consistency, which I find harder to work with.

Next up was the Emporio Armani Diamond perfume sample behind December 12.

 Despite this being a sample the amount of product inside will keep me going for a while. 

December 13 was the Midnight Recovery Concentrate from Kiehl's. I love the pipette on this bottle, it makes it easier to drop the correct amount of product out. You only need to use a tiny amount of facial serums to make a difference.

Finally, behind the door for December 14 was this eye liner from YSL. 

This black eyeliner is wonderfully creamy and stays put on upper and lower lash lines all day. It was a little stubborn to remove, but I got there in the end!

Pregnancy winter wedding outfit

I am 22 weeks pregnant and last week I was a guest at one of my oldest and best friend's wedding. It was a church wedding and I also had the honor of reading a poem at the church which the bride's mum wrote.

I have lots of gorgeous dresses. However, they aren't maternity dresses and I soon found my expanding stomach wasn't going to fit in my usual special occasion attire. 

Luckily, my mum had a lovely dress I could wear for the wedding which was both comfortable and suitable for a winter wedding.

This dress is a 3/4 sleeve stretchy cotton dress from Matalan, I believe it costs around £20. 
I teamed it with opaque black tights - essential for a winter wedding in a church! My shoes are black patent court shoes with a strap, these were from M&S, my long necklace, which has silver snowflakes on it, was from Dorothy Perkins' sale. 

The wedding was amazing, I read a poem in the church which was written by the brides' mum. The wedding breakfast and reception was amazing with lovely food. 
This was the first winter wedding I had been to, it was lovely and the bride and groom were lucky with such fabulous winter weather, crisp, bright and chilly. 

Have you been to any winter weddings this year?

Selfridges - Enchanted Spells advent calendar - December 5,6,7 and 8

I have to say that the first few days of the Selfridges beauty advent calendar have been fantastic. I love coming home from work each day, turning the Christmas tree lights on and opening another door on the calendar.

Here was what was behind the doors for December 5,6,7 and 8 in the Enchanted Spells advent calendar.

Behind the door on December 6 was a 7ml bottle of Lancome's La Vie Est Elle perfume. I love the smell of this perfume, sweet but but not sickly. It is one of those perfumes which you can pop on and it will stay put throughout the day. 

Behind door number 7 was the Kiehl's Ultra Facial Cream which is a product I have heard a lot about. I haven't tried this moisturiser yet but I have high hopes.

I am a huge fan of Estee Lauder's Advanced Night Repair serum which I use every night before bed. I love serums, I find they really help soften, smooth and keep wrinkles at bay. I find they also really help banish redness. When I saw the YSL Forever Youth Liberator behind door number 8 I got very excited.

You only need a small amount of product and it doesn't leave a greasy feeling on the skin which is brilliant. If you haven't tried a face serum I highly recommend you give it a go!

 

Finally behind door number 9 was a mini bottle of the perfume Armani Code. I love the bottle and design which looks fab on the dressing table. This is a different perfume to the others which were inside the calendar so far. It's heavier and I would probably tend to wear this perfume more for evening occasions. 

Discount vouchers for clothes, restaurants and health and beauty

I recently wrote a post featuring all the goodies I had bought from The Body Shop. I was then contacted by a website called Vouchercloud who was telling me all about the discount vouchers they had on offer for The Body Shop.

I had a browse around their website and wanted to share with you some of the deals and discounts the website offers.

You can sign up to Vouchercloud via email and then you can print off vouchers for discounts for clothes, restaurants and electronic and homeware shops. You can also get the discounts via codes on your mobile. 

You can browse by category as well. For example, if you wanted to go out for dinner with a friend you would select the food and drink icon and all the current deals and vouchers pop up. 

Recently Vouchercloud had offers for 25% off food at ASK Italian, buy one burger or salad at The Handmade Burger Co and get another for £1.

On their health and beauty section they had 40% off purchases in store at The Body Shop and exclusive free delivery on orders from Space. NK. 

Wish I had known about this website before I spent a small fortune in The Body Shop! Oh well, next time I shall be prepared. Have you ever used Vouchercloud? If so, what did you think?

http://www.vouchercloud.com/

Selfridges - Enchanted Spells advent calendar - December 1,2,3, and 4

My husband bought me the Selfridges beauty advent calendar this year.

The Enchanted Spells calendar has been full of surprises and I can't wait to start testing out the goodies behind doors 1-4.

The Enchanted Spells calendar costs £85 and contains lots of wonderful skincare, makeup and fragrances. The sizes of the products are more like mini sizes, rather than samples. So far I have opened doors to uncover Lancome, YSL and Kiehl's goodies.

Here was what was behind the doors for December 1,2,3 and 4th.

Behind door number 1 was this perfume by YSL which I believe is one of the brand's newest fragrance additions.

Next up was the Kiehl's Ultra Facial Cleanser which is suitable for all skin types. This cleanser claims to cleanse the skin without over-drying it.

Behind the door on December was the Renergie Multi-Lift face cream which contains an SPF of 15. It claims to de-puff the skin and reduce the appearance of wrinkles. At the grand old age of 27 do I need to start worrying about wrinkles?

Finally, behind the door of December 4 was this Lancome cleansing milk for face and eyes. 

I will do more posts showing what else the calendar had in store. Did you get a beauty advent calendar this year? I know the Benefit calendar was very popular. 

Christmas Tag 2014

The lovely Beki from http://www.eclecticbex.blogspot.co.uk/ tagged me in the 2014 Christmas tag. This is my first tag, nobody had tagged me before, so without further ado, here we go. 

Q1. What are your favourite Christmas Movies?

Oooh, that's a tough one, there are so many, I like the Polar Express and the Muppet Christmas Carol. I also love Disney films, at Christmas there always seems to be at least one Disney film scheduled. 

Q2: Do you open your Christmas presents on Christmas Eve or Christmas Morning?

Always Christmas day!

Q3: Do you have a favourite Christmas memory?

Waking up Christmas morning and feeling around at the bottom of the bed to find my stocking. Without fail I would always get a satsuma and a bag of gold chocolate coins at the bottom of the stocking. As a child I always tried to stay away to catch Father Christmas, of course I ended up falling asleep.

Q4: Favourite festive food?

I have a major sweet tooth and love all the chocolatey Christmas treats. I love a good Chocolate yule log with double cream. I also love the roast lunch on Christmas day, no matter what meat it is, the food always tastes better than a normal roast.

Q5: Favourite Christmas Gift?

That is hard to chose. My parents and husband have bought me some gorgeous presents over the years I have been giving some gorgeous jewellery which I call my special jewellery. Items which I wear on special occasions, the type which I would hand down to future generations. 

Q6: Favourite Christmas scent?

Has to be a pomander! A pomander is an orange spiked with cloves, the zesty, citrus scent mixed with the warming smell of cloves, stunning. I also love the smell of real Christmas trees as well as the smell of a roast lunch cooking in the oven on Christmas day. 

Q7: Do you have any Christmas Eve traditions?

For the last few years my husband and I have gone for a pub supper with his parents in town. We both usually work Christmas Eve, but we can usually leave work a little earlier which is nice. Christmas day is usually spent with my parents. My husband is one of three and I am an only child. This will be our last year as just husband and wife as our first baby is due in the spring.

Q8: What tops your tree?

This year it a glittery star is on the top of the tree. I always go to mum and dads to help them decorate their tree. They have this really old angel which sits ontop of their tree. The angel has seen better days but it is nice to have an ornament which has some memories and traditions.

Q9: As a child what was the one (crazy, wild, extravagant) gift you always asked for but never received?

I pestered my parents for a pony! 

Q10: What is the best part about Christmas for you?

Spending time off work with friends and family and eating lots of tasty food. 

I tag these lovely bloggers for the Christmas tag 2014.

@LizaPrideaux

@zoegeorgina24

@DolledUpLondon 

@MissSugarSpiceX

Spectrum - Ombre makeup brushes

Having the right tools for the job helps makeup application easier. I am a firm believer that good quality brushes can make a huge difference in how your makeup applies and how it looks.

There are a lot of makeup brushes on the market, there is so much choice, but you don't have to spend a fortune on filling your makeup tool kit.

 I had already mentioned in a previous post that I enjoyed using some of the Real Techniques brushes, however I have come across another company's brushes which, dare I say, I prefer to Real Techniques. 

These blue and purple tipped ombre brushes from Spectrum not only look beautiful but they apply makeup flawlessly.

This is the Spectrum Collections Artist Brush Set which normally costs £24.99. The company is listing the set on their website at the moment for £4.99. 

The set contains a large oval artist brush a large angled artist brush, a small oval artist brush, a small angled artist brush and a fine tapered artist brush. 

The kit was created for cream, gel and glitter based makeup to the face and body.

The brushes are synthetic and thick which, in my opinion, makes them easier to work with.

This is what Spectrum had to say about their brushes.

"All of Spectrum Collection’s brushes are hand finished, vegan and animal friendly - composed of the highest quality synthetic hair, ensuring the brushes are not only beautifully soft, but also a compassionate choice. 

Our unique product range targets a niche within the industry, and presents the opportunity to provide a vibrant range of alternative brushes, that translate as an extension of the vibrant colours used and loved by makeup fanatics."

I was sent this set from Spectrum to review as part of the You're Gorgeous feature I write at work. (The North Devon Journal)

DHC Platinum Silver Nanocolloid Lotion

I am a big fan of face toners. 

For years I had been using the Clarins Extra Comfort toning lotion.

Toning is a step a lot of people skip in their cleansing routine, but I find my skin feels rough and not as bright if I don't include this step, especially after wearing a full face of makeup all day. 

For the last month I have been using the DHC Platinum Silver Nanocolloid Lotion. I was sent this to review as part my job at the North Devon Journal newspaper. Each week we print a health, beauty and lifestyle feature called You're Gorgeous. 

After taking off my makeup and cleansing I take this lotion of a cotton pad and sweep it all over my face. The lotion itself is clear and fragrance free, it doesn't leave my skin feeling tight or dry like some toners do.

This lotion also helped remove any excess makeup or cleanser residue. Since I have been using this lotion my skin has become a lot clearer, I haven't had any pesky spots like I usually do. 

I use this lotion at night and follow up with my Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair serum.

Do you use a toning lotion? I am always on the look out for new ones to try out.

Lipstick favourites and storage

I am not a huge lipstick hoarder. I have a handful of products I use on a regular basis, but I am by no means a huge lipstick junkie.

When I was in Truro I popped in to TKMaxx and came across an acrylic makeup storage container. This container costs £7.99 and can hold 12 lipsticks, it also has other compartments which can hold other makeup items. 

Starting from the back row, from left to right: Soap and Glory Sexy Mother Pucker in Candy Floss, L'Oral Paris Glam Shine Reflexion in Glam Shine, Clinique Chubby Stick in Super Strawberry, Barry M Super Shiny Lip Gloss (Buzz) 

Middle Row, from left to right: Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick in Gentlemen Prefer Pink, Maybelline New York, ColorSensational in Hot Plum, Estee Lauder Pure Colour Long Lasting Lipstick in Pink Parfait, Barry M colour changing lipstick (this turns pink once applied to your lips!)

Front Row, from left to right: Revlon Lip Butter in Strawberry Shortcake, MAC Matt Lipstick in Candy Yum Yum, Estee Lauder Crystal Lipstick in Tiramisu Shimmer, Estee Lauder Candy Shimmer Lipstick.

This is a swatch of my favourites:

From left to right: 

Revlon Lip Butter in Strawberry Shortcake, MAC Matt Lipstick in Candy Yum Yum, Estee Lauder Candy Shimmer Lipstick, Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick in Gentlemen Prefer Pink, Maybelline New York, ColorSensational in Hot Plum and Estee Lauder Pure Colour Long Lasting Lipstick in Pink Parfait.

These are the lipsticks I tend to reach for the most often.

I also have a few lip stains which can be a great alternative to lipsticks as you don't feel like you have anything on your lips. With a lip stain you can pop it on in the morning and forget about it. Lip stains tend to last throughout the day, I find lipsticks need touch ups quite often.

I can't be the only person who isn't a huge collector of lipsticks?